Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate,
is the founder of Grameen Bank, which provides small, unsecured loans to the poor in Bangladesh,
and an advocate and practitioner of social business.
Kyushu University concluded an exchange agreement with the Grameen Group in 2007
and established the Yunus & Shiiki Social Business Research Center (SBRC) in 2011.
As the very first Yunus Center in Japan,
the SBRC promotes social business in cooperation with various organizations and companies both in Japan and overseas.

Our Mission

The SBRC is engaged in research and education in, and incubation and promotion of social business.
By collaborating and conducting joint research with related organizations in and outside Japan,
the SBRC creates social business models for tackling global issues
such as poverty, health, environment, energy, education, and natural disasters.

Dr. Yunus was born in Chittagong, Bangladesh, in 1940.
He received his Ph.D in economics from Vanderbilt University, in the United States, in 1970,
and returned to Bangladesh in 1972 to become head of the Department of Economics at Chittagong University.

After witnessing the poor suffering from the Bangladesh famine of 1974, Dr. Yunus started working on activities to eradicate poverty.
In 1983, he established Grameen Bank, which provides unsecured microloans (microcredit) to the poor.
Under his core philosophy that "a credit system for the poor requires neither mortgages nor collateral",
Grameen Bank supported the independence of the poor in rural areas and provided small loans to the self-employed,
particularly poor women, making a significant contribution to alleviate poverty in Bangladesh.

In recognition of his achievements, Dr. Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize (Norway) in 2006 (with Grameen Bank).
In addition, he has received more than 100 awards from around the world,
including the Grand Prize of the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize 2001 (12th) (Japan),
the Ramon Magsaysay Award (Philippines) known as the "Nobel Prize of Asia",
the Presidential Medal of Freedom (U.S.A.), the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal (U.S.A.),
the World Food Prize (U.S.A.), and the Nikkei Asia Prize (Japan);
and more than 40 honorable titles, including honorary doctorates, from universities around the world.